The Power Of Positive Leadership: How and Why Positive Leaders Transform Teams and Organizations and Change the World

Gordon argues that people aren’t positive because life is easy but “because life can be hard” (7). This is especially true for organizations, where leaders can face many challenges and tests. Positive leadership, however, is not fake “Pollyanna positivity.” It is the “real stuff” that makes great leaders who they are and allows them to change the world.

Research by two business professors, Manju Puri and David Robinson, shows that optimistic people “work harder, get paid more, are elected to office,” and win at sports more frequently (10). Research by psychologist Martin Seligman shows that optimistic salespeople perform better than others, while another psychologist, Barbara Frederickson, has shown that people with more positive than negative emotions are more likely to thrive in relationships and work. A third psychologist, Daniel Goleman, has shown that positive teams perform at higher levels than negative ones, while John Gottman’s research shows that marriages are more likely to succeed when couples experience a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. If the ratio approaches 1:1, the marriages are more likely to end in divorce.

Similarly, business professor Wayne Baker has shown that leaders who energize people in their workplace get higher work performance. This is because positive leaders attract talented people, who are more likely to offer new information and opportunities to those leaders. By contrast, negative leaders create less productive workplaces.

Gordon summarizes the research by saying that positivity gives a demonstrated competitive advantage in business, sports, and politics. Positive leaders believe in a positive future, so they invest their energy and time in driving a positive culture.

This chapter explores the first of nine principles in Gordon’s framework for enhancing leadership capabilities and putting positive leadership into action. He begins with the statement, “Culture is not just one thing. It’s everything” (13). He offers the example of a principal who shared Gordon’s book The Energy Bus with her staff and held monthly meetings to discuss and reinforce the book’s principles, transforming the energy and culture of the school. Another principal gave the book to her staff but didn’t follow up. Her school did not change, which Gordon attributes to a failure of leadership: “It’s the leader that must drive the culture” (16).

This is the leader’s most important job: to create a positive culture that energizes and encourages people, fosters relationships and teamwork, and empowers people, allowing them to do their best work. Culture “drives expectation and beliefs” (16), which in turn drive behaviors. Behaviors drive habits, which create the future.

The leader must spend time, energy, and effort to create and build the culture of the team and/or organization. Gordon points to a retired president of a UPS region who gave The Energy Bus to 1,000 leaders, who discussed the book and rolled it out to 11,000 drivers. As a result, engagement, morale, and performance all rose. Similarly, Alan Mulally, a former CEO of Ford, led a turnaround in the company by driving a “One Ford” culture in which everyone committed to a single vision. Gordon calls Mulally one of history’s best examples of positive leadership.

Gordon also points to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, co-founders of Apple, and their maxim, “Culture beats strategy” (17). The strategy must be right, but the culture determines its success. Another leader who understands the importance of culture is Rick Hendrick, founder of the largest privately owned car dealership in the United States and owner of Hendrick Motorsports, the “winningest” racing organization in NASCAR. Gordon describes Hendrick’s employees as humble, kind, and appreciative, with contagious energy.

To start building a culture, a leader must answer two questions. The first is “What do we stand for?” and the second is “What do we want to be known for?” (19). Hendrick’s leaders say that they stand for servant leadership, emulating Hendrick himself, who puts himself last in decision-making. Hendrick says that people are a company’s biggest asset and that people accomplish more when they trust and respect others as team members. His team members share best practices in weekly and monthly meetings.

Leaders at Hendrick’s two businesses are passionate about winning and committed to continuous improvement. They believe in “developing champions who serve others” by making a difference in the lives of others (20). These leaders only hire people who fit their culture, and they train and develop their people.

Research from the HeartMath Institute has shown that feelings can be transmitted to people up to 10 feet away. This means that leaders broadcast their feelings to their team. Furthermore, research from Harvard University has shown that emotions, including attitude, energy, and leadership, are contagious.

Sharing positive energy does not require extroverted leaders. Rather, leaders must broadcast the passion and positivity for the team and their mission. Gordon uses the example of a head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team who, in 2014, brought his team to West Point to help the players understand what it meant to represent the US. The trip was more effective than a simple explanation would have been because “feeling is more powerful than hearing” (24).

Leaders often do not focus on culture because, unlike a metric such as sales, it can’t be easily quantified. Moreover, building a culture requires time and energy. Gordon gives the metaphor of a fruit-bearing tree: Leaders who focus on outcomes (the fruit) ignore the root (the culture) to their detriment. As an example, he points to football coach Mike Smith, whose Falcons won fewer games after they focused solely on getting to the Super Bowl.